1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a boarding pass processing unit, a boarding gate reader, a service kiosk for boarding pass (a boarding pass issuing machine), a boarding pass, a person collation unit, and a boarding pass processing method with which security in air ports can be enhanced, and a boarding system having the boarding pass processing device and the boarding gate reader.
2. Description of the Related Art
It has been general that a person-to-board (i.e., a person who is expected to board a plane) move in an airport to get on a plane as follows.
A person-to-board registers a check-in at a check-in counter and also checks his/her baggage if necessary. The passenger is allowed to check in under the following condition:
(1) A plane has vacant seats, or
(2) The passenger has already made a reservation.
A person-to-board who has completed his/her check-in procedure is then subjected to magnetic examination of his/her body and X-rays examination of his/her hand baggage which are carried out to prevent passengers from bring dangerous things into planes. Thereafter, the person-to-board passes through a boarding gate and gets on his/her plane.
In order to keep security, the airport (airline company) checks whether any person who does not get on the plane (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cnon-boarding personxe2x80x9d) exists in persons-to-board who have completed their check-in procedures before the plane takes off. Boarding passes (airline tickets) possessed by persons-to-board are used to identify the persons-to-board who have checked in and persons (passengers) who pass through the boarding gate and get on the plane. When there is a non-boarding person, the airline company calls or looks for the non-boarding person in the airport. In this case, the departure of the air plane may be delayed.
However, only contract contents such as the name of a person-to-board, a boarding-scheduled date, a flight No. of an air plane, a destination, the name of a departure air port, a fare, etc. are written on an air ticket. Therefore, only the check of the written matters of the boarding pass is insufficient to accurately identify the person-to-board.
Further, identification of persons-to-board is required to be needed in airports for detection of plane hijacking, boarding procedures (check-in, boarding to air planes, etc.) cancel of boarding passes, alteration of boarding-scheduled air planes, etc. In such cases, it is also required to check whether a person-to-board having a boarding pass is a proper person of the boarding pass concerned. Therefore, a clerk in charge requests persons-to-board to show not only their boarding passes, but also their identification cards (particularly, identification cards having face photographs), or present keywords such as reservation numbers, identification numbers, birthdays or the like which only the persons-to-board know, or credit cards with their names, and check the identification of the persons-to-board by using the means corresponding to the necessity at that time.
However, since no information to identify persons-to-board accurately is recorded on their boarding passes themselves, the clerk in charge waits until the persons-to-board show their identification cards or the like and then check the identifies of the persons-to-board every time the identification is needed. Therefore, much time is needed to check their identifies, and there is a problem that an identification work is not efficiently carried out.
Further, persons-to-board are required to carry their identification cards or the like and show them every time the identification is needed. Therefore, many persons-to-board feel burdensome, and this makes the persons-to-board feel displeased at the services.
Still further, since an automatic boarding identifying gate apparatus used for the boarding work is not provided with any function of identifying persons-to-board, it is possible that a person-to-board delivers his/her boarding pass to another person and a person other than the person-to-board gets on an airplane while posing as the original person-to-board.
The present invention has an object to provide a boarding pass processing unit, a boarding pass processing method, a boarding gate reader, a boarding pass, a service kiosk for boarding pass, a person collation unit and a boarding system with which identification of persons-to-board can be easily performed to enhance services to persons-to-board and keep the security.
In order to attain the above object, (1) a boarding pass processing unit of the present invention comprises:
a boarding pass accepting portion for accepting a boarding pass;
a control portion for identifying a person-to-board who is an owner of the boarding pass accepted by the boarding pass accepting portion, and judging whether the person-to-board should be allowed to board;
a face image achieving portion for achieving an face image of the person-to-board who is the owner of the boarding pass accepted by the boarding pass accepting portion;
a face image printing portion for printing the face image of the person-to-board achieved by the face image achieving portion is printed on the boarding pass accepted by the boarding pass accepting portion when the control portion judges that the person-to-board is allowed to board; and
a boarding pass discharge portion for discharging the boarding pass on which the face image is printed by the face image print portion.
According to the above construction, the face image of a person-to-board is printed on a boarding pass accepted by the boarding pass accepting portion. The face image of the person-to-board to be printed on the boarding pass is achieved by the face image achieving portion. The face image achieving portion may achieve the face image of each person-to-board by taking a photograph of each person-to-board with a camera disposed in the neighborhood of the main body of the apparatus or by reading the face image of each person-to-board from an identification card or the like of the person-to-board.
Further, the control portion identifies each person-to-board who is an owner of a boarding pass, and judges whether the person-to-board is allowed to board. This judgment may be carried out, for example, by reading the identification card of the person-to-board and identify the person-to-board from the written matters of the identification card, or by making an operator carry out aural inquiries on persons-to-board, input the contents of the aural inquiries and then identify the persons-to-board from the input contents. Further, the judgment may be carried out by making inquiries about past criminal records, etc. of the persons-to-board to police stations, security companies, etc.
When the control portion judges that boarding is allowed to a person-to-board, the face image print portion prints on the boarding pass the face image of the person-to-board achieved by the face image achieving portion.
Accordingly, the person-to-board whose identification is completed and thus to which the boarding is allowed has a boarding pass on which his/her face image is printed. Therefore, by showing the boarding pass having his/her face image printed thereon to the clerk in charge, the person-to-board can make the clerk in charge identify that he/she is the proper owner of the boarding pass.
When a face image is printed on a boarding pass, a person-to-board having the boarding pass is not required to be identified again because the identity of the person-to-board has been checked.
Further, (2) the face image print portion is equipped with a face image data recording portion for recording on the boarding pass face image data achieved by coding the face image printed on the boarding pass by the face image print portion.
In this construction, the face image data achieved by coding the face image printed on the boarding pass are also recorded on the boarding pass. Therefore, at the boarding gate or the like, the face image data are read out from the boarding pass, a photograph of the face of a user having the boarding pass is taken and then the face image data and the face photograph are collated with each other, so that it can be easily judged with no labor whether the person-to-board is the proper owner of the boarding pass. Accordingly, no labor is needed to identify the person-to-board and the cost can be suppressed. In addition, the security can be enhanced.
Further, (3) a boarding gate reader of the present invention comprises:
a boarding pass processing portion for accepting a boarding pass on which a face image of a person-to-board is printed, and reading boarding data recorded on the boarding pass;
a face image data achieving portion for achieving face image data corresponding to coded face image of a person-to-board who is the owner of the boarding pass from which the boarding data are read out by the boarding pass processing portion;
an image pickup portion for picking up an image of a person passing through a passage; and
a control portion for collating the face image data of the person-to-board achieved by the face image data achieving portion with the face image picked up by the image pickup portion to identify the person-to-board, and prohibiting passage of the person-to-board when the identification of the person-to-board is negated.
In this construction, the face image data processing portion accepts the boarding pass on which the face image of the person-to-board is printed, and achieves the face image data corresponding to the coded data of the face image printed on the boarding pass. The face image data may be recorded on the boarding pass, or it may be managed in association with the boarding data recorded on the boarding pass in a center or the like and achieved from the center. The boarding gate reader collates the achieved face image with the face image of the person-to-board picked up by the image pickup device to identify the person-to-board. If the identity is not verified, the boarding gate reader prohibits the passage of the person-to-board.
The boarding gate reader may be of such a type that the passage is prohibited by closing a gate door provided in the passage, such a type that the passage is prohibited by restricting rotation of a turn bar in place of the gate door, such a type that the passage is prohibited by outputting an alarm without discharging the boarding pass inserted into the main body, such a type that the passage is prohibited by discharging the boarding pass, not from a discharge port, but from an insertion port, or the like.
Accordingly, a person who is passing and boarding through a boarding gate with another person""s boarding pass can be prohibited from passing with no labor.
(4) When the control portion judges that the identity of a person-to-board is verified, the boarding pass processing portion cuts out and withdraws a face-image printed portion of the boarding pass of the person-to-board, which is accepted by the boarding pass processing portion, and also the remaining portion of the boarding pass is discharged.
In this construction, the portion on which the face photograph is printed is withdrawn. Therefore, when the face photograph of a passenger is needed after an air plane takes off or the like, the face photograph of the passenger can be immediately achieved.
Conversely, the portion of the accepted boarding pass on which the face image of the person-to-board is printed may be cut out and discharged, and the remaining portion may be withdrawn.
In this case, the side at which the face image is printed can be practically used when the person-to-board is afterwards identified by the clerk in charge. For example, when a person-to-board intends to make a plane connection in an arrival airport, the person-to-board can use the face-image printed portion when he/she takes his/her baggage in the arrival airport.
(5) By providing the boarding pass processing unit and the boarding gate reader can be constructed a boarding system in which the labor needed to the security in the airport can be sufficiently reduced and also the security can be enhanced.
(6) Further, a service kiosk for boarding pass of the present invention comprises:
a medium accepting portion for accepting insertion of a recording medium in which face image data corresponding to coded face image of an owner are recorded;
an image pickup portion for picking up an image of a person who inserts the recording medium accepted by the medium accepting portion;
a control portion for collating the face image data recorded in the recording medium accepted by the medium accepting portion with the face image of the person who inserts the recording medium, the face image being picked up by the image pickup portion; and
a boarding pass issuing portion for issuing a boarding pass indicated when the control portion verifies the identity of the person-to-board.
In this construction, when the recording medium in which the face image data corresponding to the coded face image of the owner are recorded is accepted in the medium accepting portion, the face image of the person who inserts the recording medium is picked up by the image pickup portion. Normally, an IC card in which ID and face image data are recorded, such as a Smart Card, is issued to each privilege customer member of an airline company (Frequent Flyer) in advance. The control portion collates the face image picked up by the image pickup portion with the face image recorded in the accepted recording medium to judge the identity of the person-to-board. When the identify is verified, the boarding pass issuing portion issues an indicated boarding pass.
Here, the face image picked up by the image pickup portion maybe printed on the boarding pass thus issued. When the boarding pass issuing portion issues the boarding pass, the check-in procedure may be carried out on the person-to-board to which the boarding pass is issued.
(7) A person collation unit of the present invention comprises:
a boarding pass accepting portion for accepting a boarding pass on which face image data achieved by coding the face image of an owner is printed;
an image pickup portion for picking up an image of a person who inserts the boarding pass accepted by the boarding pass accepting portion;
a control portion for collating the face image data recorded in the boarding pass accepted by the boarding pass accepting portion with the face image of the person who inserts the boarding pass, the face image being picked up by the image pickup portion to judge the identity of the person; and
a display portion for displaying the judgment result in the control portion.
In this construction, when the boarding pass on which the face image data corresponding to the coded face image of the owner is printed is accepted, the identity between the face image data recorded in the boarding pass and the person who inserts the boarding pass is judged, and the judgment result is displayed. Accordingly, if this apparatus is disposed at an X-ray examination place, a check room, etc., the identification of persons-to-board can be properly carried out at these places.